PEN AND INK ARTIST MIKE PARSONS

"Pen and Ink Artist Mike Parsons renders images of overcrowding , violence and loneliness in vivid black inks, his messy, disordered style blending with the dark tone of the work…Simple -- and truly unsettling. His is a world where monsters do exist."

ARTIST'S BIOGRAPHY

Mike is a Toronto based fine artist who uses black and white ink drawings, comic books, graffiti street art, and animations to express an optimistic warning towards future days.“HEY APATHY!” is an ongoing artistic investigation into the city, people, monsters and existence in general.

In the initial nihilistic artworks the metropolis is revealed as an ominous gear propelled by an endless sea of faceless denizens. In order to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon in question Mike developed a particular artist’s process involving street interventions, outdoor festival performances, gallery exhibitions and new media installations. Through the inclusion of such public presentations Mike has been able to meet thousands of people from all over the world and of all walks of life.

As a result both the artist and artworks have evolved immensely. In more recent creations the city remains as a giant gear, only now it is all the unique and weird individuals, not anonymous cogs, who fuel the machine. The artist’s ultimate goal is to make comics that are simultaneously intellectually provocative as well as accessible to viewers of all ages. Since 2001 the “HEY APATHY!” artworks have been featured in over 25 major exhibitions winning awards and honors from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Ontario College of Art and Design and the Hudson’s Bay Company.